‘My Life Flashed Before My Eyes’: Video Captures Terrifying Moment a Deck Collapse Sent 24 People Tumbling to the Ground

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An Indiana family had assembled for a Christmas party in December when something terrifying happened: the deck they were standing on collapsed, sending all 24 people tumbling one story to the ground.

“My life flashed before my eyes,” one of the family members told WAVE-TV in the wake of the incident.

The horrific accident was captured on video — footage that Jeremy Wilt, whose wife and daughter were on the deck at the time, is using to turn the accident into a public service initiative aimed at educating people about the dangers of deck collapses.

In the nearly-six-minute clip, Wilt shows viewers footage from the deck collapse that injured members of his family, then proceeds to explain how decks are constructed in an effort to showcase potential structural problems that could lead to calamity.

Watch the video below:

“This is not a ‘how to build a deck’ video. This video is to raise awareness regarding common building methods to look for when gathering people on a deck,” Wilt wrote in the description of the clip. “Simple upgrades may prevent another deck collapse tragedy from happening.”

Wilt is hoping the footage helps others protect their families from the horrors his faced.

“We want the public to know what to look for so something like this doesn’t happen to them,” he told WAVE-TV.

In Wilt’s case, everyone survived, though three of the individuals on the deck reportedly still aren’t walking. A 13-month-old baby was among those left unscathed; the child’s father held her tightly in his arms during the fall, WAVE-TV reported.